Bruins take playoff show on the road

Tuesday

Apr 22, 2014 at 4:42 AMApr 22, 2014 at 8:50 AM

The Bruins, feeling energized after Sunday's 4-1 win, visit Detroit's Joe Louis Arena for Games 3 and 4 of their best-of-7 Round 1 playoff series with the Red Wings. The B's will try to continue playing their game, while the Wings will attempt to re-establish their speed advantage on home ice.

Mike Loftus The Patriot Ledger

BOSTON – They’ll probably get a kick out it if an octopus hits the ice, which is tradition in Stanley Cup playoff games played in Detroit.

Other than that, the Bruins don’t want to find anything remarkable about Joe Louis Arena and what happens there in Games 3 (7:35 tonight, NESN, WBZ-FM/98.5) and 4 (8:05 p.m. Thursday, same TV/radio) of their Eastern Conference series with the Red Wings.

“We can’t really start thinking about the building we’re playing in,” center Patrice Bergeron said before the B’s left town to resume a best-of-7 series that’s tied, 1-1. “It shouldn’t be something that rattles us or bothers us at all.”

History, both recent and slightly more ancient, suggests that playing at The Joe does, in fact, bother the Bruins, at least a little. They went 0-2 there during this regular season and are winless there since the spring of 2007. The last item is a little deceptive, though: Between past conference alignments (Detroit moved from the Western Conference to the East this year), lockouts, scheduling formats and the like, the B’s have visited only four times since that last victory in March of ’07.

Similarly, it shouldn’t make a difference that the Bruins had a better road record during the regular season (23-12-6) than the Wings’ record at home (18-13-10). If things like that mattered in the playoffs, the Bruins – No. 1 in the NHL at home this year at 31-7-3 – wouldn’t have gone 0-2-0 this season in Detroit or split Games 1-2 of this series at TD Garden.

The plot to Game 3 revolves around the Bruins’ intention to maintain the physical and special teams advantages that made them 4-1 winners on Sunday, and what, if any, steps the Wings take to try to make the game more like their 1-0 win in Game 1.

“First and foremost, you look at your team, look at the things you did well, and things you have to be better at,” said Bruins coach Claude Julien.

“You also have to kind of look and say ‘Well, obviously, these guys will probably try and do this next game.’ We have to be prepared for that.”

The B’s weren’t perfect on Sunday. After taking over the first period (18 shots on goal and a 2-0 lead), they let the Red Wings get untracked in the second and had to rely on perfect penalty-killing (3 for 3 in the period) and a big, late goal from Milan Lucic to re-establish a two-goal lead.

The Wings, however, found more to complain about, from a 0-for-4 power play (0 for 6 in the series), to a stagnant offense (2 goals in 2 games) to feeling they’d let themselves get sucked into trying to match the Bruins’ roughhouse tactics.

“We had four roughing calls,” coach Mike Babcock said. “We haven’t had four roughing calls this year. You’ve got to do what you do, not what they do.”

“I think we’ve got to … just play whistle to whistle,” goalie Jimmy Howard said, “and not worry about getting into the scrums or anything like that, and proving your manhood out there.”

Since they can’t match the Red Wings’ renowned team speed, the Bruins know they must keep up the leaning, pushing, shoving and banging – to a point.

“I think it’s pretty clear our team has to be physically engaged, but within the rules,” Julien said. “When we’re not, we’re in the penalty box.

“To me, we’re in the box for too many penalties and down the road that can hurt you.”

Specific to Joe Louis Arena, the Bruins know to be mindful of the arena’s famously lively boards and they plan to appreciate the atmosphere – octopus and all. A postseason tradition since 1952, when it took eight wins in the playoffs to win the Stanley Cup, one always appears, whether real or electronically superimposed on the ice.

“We’ve seen it all – almost,” Bergeron said. “It’s going to be fun to be part of it. We’re going to enjoy it, and play our game.”

Mike Loftus may be reached at mloftus@ledger.com. On Twitter.com: @MLoftus_Ledger.